RAJASTHAN’S MINIMUM INCOME BILL
WHY IN NEWS ?
- Rajasthan t government on Tuesday tabled the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023, which effectively seeks to cover the entire adult population of the state with guaranteed wages or pension.
WHAT IS MINIMUM INCOME BILL ?
- Under the Bill, all families of the state get guaranteed employment of 125 days every year, while the aged, disabled, widows, and single women get a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month.
- Importantly, the pension will be increased at the rate of 15 per cent each year.
- The Bill has three broad categories:
- right to minimum guaranteed income,
- right to guaranteed employment, and
- right to guaranteed social security pension.
- The government anticipates an additional expenditure of Rs 2,500 crore per year for this scheme, which may increase with time.
MAJOR PROVISIONS OF THE BILL:
Minimum guaranteed income:
- Each adult citizen of the state has been guaranteed a minimum income for 125 days a year through the Rajasthan government’s flagship Indira Gandhi Shahri Rozgar Guarantee Yojana for urban areas, and through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in rural areas.
- Next, the government will provide eligible categories with a minimum pension of Rs 1,000.
Guaranteed employment:
- The right to employment states that post the work in urban or rural employment schemes, the minimum wages should be paid “weekly or in any case not later than a fortnight.”
Guaranteed social security pension:
- Every person falling in the category of old age/specially abled/widow/single woman with prescribed eligibility shall be entitled to a pension.
- The state will designate a program officer — not below the rank of Block Development Officer in rural areas and an Executive Officer of the local body in urban areas — to implement the Act.
SYLLABUS: PRELIMS, CURRENT AFFAIRS